A Friend Indeed

Delray Caregiver Puts Needs Of Others Before Her Own.

Instead, the longtime resident, who recently turned 85, is doing for others.

She cares for homebound neighbors who are younger.

She collects and distributes food and clothing to needy families.

She volunteers at her church, Greater Mt. Olive Baptist.

Despite her activities, West still is apologetic.

"I could do more," she said. "But I had a small stroke in September, and it's slowed me down somewhat."

But not so you'd notice.

From childhood on, West always has put the needs of others before her own.

She was born in Georgia in 1909, but her family moved to Vero Beach when she turned 11. She dropped out of the sixth grade soon after that to help support her mother and five siblings.

"I worked picking beans and tomatoes," she recalled.

West tried to keep up with her studies during the summer, but it was too difficult.

Still, West had ambitions: She wanted to learn how to play the piano. She wanted to be a nurse.

After marrying James West at age 20, she finally had enough money to fulfill her first dream. She began taking music lessons.

When she moved to Delray Beach in 1947, she began attending Greater Mt. Olive and playing the piano at services.

She did it every Sunday for 31 years.

In addition, she finally had enough time to fulfill her second dream. She joined the Visiting Nurses Association.

As a member of the association, she learned how to take vital signs and dispense medications; and she learned how to comfort the sick.

The training helped her when her mother and sister became ill. But her occupation as a nurse-sitter, however, did not pay her enough to cover the medical bills.

So she learned how to write insurance and work as an agent.

"I did nursing and insurance work at the same time," she recalled. "I had to work to support them."

West still ministers to the sick, not only as a friend, but also as head of the Health and Nurses Unit of the Ministers and Deacons Union of the Florida East Coast Baptist Organization.

Several times a week, West visits two neighbors who are about her same age, but homebound.

Sadie Jones is only two years older, but so ill she speaks in whispers.

"She's more than an ordinary neighbor," Jones said of West. "She always calls to see if she can help me, or if I need anything.

Annie Bell Jones, no relation, is two years younger, but has difficulty moving.

"She's a lovely person, and I'm telling the God's honest truth," Bell Jones said of West. "When I had my cataracts removed, she took me in for eight weeks. She gave me her bed, and she took me to the doctor every morning. And she was working, and had a sick mother and a sick sister."

When she visits her sister at a nursing home in Lantana, she brings costume jewelry with her, which the home uses as prizes during bingo games.

Since her stroke, her doctor has advised her to take it easy. Her friends tell her, "Sister West, slow down."

But she enjoys helping others.

"I've worked hard, but I think that's good. It keeps me young," she said.

Not only in body, but also in spirit.

"God's got a job to do," she said. "I'm helping him by meeting him halfway."